Under Tech's Armour: How a synthetic sports apparel brand conquered cotton country

On the east side of Texas Tech's Athletic Training Center - that big round bubble just south of Jones AT&T Stadium - Robbie Crowell runs a veritable Under Armour warehouse. Dozens of boxes line the room, holding everything from golf shirts to track shoes to duffle bags for 15 of the 18 Red Raider athletic teams.

On the east side of Texas Tech's Athletic Training Center - that big round bubble just south of Jones AT&T Stadium - Robbie Crowell runs a veritable Under Armour warehouse. Dozens of boxes line the room, holding everything from golf shirts to track shoes to duffle bags for 15 of the 18 Red Raider athletic teams.

Need a new pair of compression shorts? How about a pair of running shoes not yet sold in stores? Crowell, the head equipment manager for Tech's athletic department, can produce anything an elite athlete wants.

Just don't ask him for a Nike dri-fit.

On March 27, 2006, Texas Tech announced a five-year contract making Under Armour the official outfitter of its football team. That deal was rewritten three years later, and now Under Armour provides almost every shoe, short and jersey Tech athletes wear.

It is a marriage that by all accounts has made the brand more ubiquitous in Lubbock than perhaps anywhere else, accounting for 75 percent of men's and youth apparel sales at one sporting goods store.

"You look at what our sports have, compare it to the professional athletes, and we get those same products," Crowell said. "Then you look out there and everybody's wearing it all over campus, too."

Under Armour's market penetration will expand this fall, when the Lubbock Independent School District rolls out Under Armour uniforms for its cross country, football and volleyball teams.

How did a synthetic sportswear brand less than 15 years in the making find such a niche in West Texas, where its top rival, cotton, truly is king?

"I think it's become a social thing," said Tommy Tuberville, Tech's football coach and one of the first college coaches to distribute Under Armour products to his athletes. "If you're a Tech fan, you're also an Under Armour fan."

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Under Armour's journey to Lubbock began in the trunk of a 20-something ex-football player's car.

It was the mid-1990s when Kevin Plank, a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, went looking for athletes willing to test the synthetic workout wear he'd developed. He contacted a friend who played defensive back at Ole Miss, asking for help setting up a meeting with Rebels coach Tommy Tuberville.

"He literally came down, pulled stuff out of the back of his car and said, 'Coach, would you try this?'" Tuberville said. "The players loved it because it was different. Back then everything was loose, and everybody loved the real tight stuff. It didn't take long to catch on."

The shirts fit close to the body, giving athletes more mobility. Made entirely of synthetic materials, they also absorbed less moisture than traditional cotton T-shirts, keeping athletes cooler and more comfortable during workouts.

Walker Jones played at Ole Miss from 1994 through 1997. He remembers Plank's prototypes becoming a hot commodity among his teammates.

"Coach Tuberville gave me a shirt, and the guy in the locker next to me wanted one, and the guy in the locker next to him," said Jones, now Under Armour's director of sports marketing.

Over the next 14 years Plank built what is now a billion-dollar business. His alma mater became the first college football program to sign an apparel contract with Under Armour, followed in 2005 by Auburn, where Tuberville had become head coach.

Tuberville said Auburn's contract with the fledgling apparel empire helped set the Tigers apart in the minds of both fans and recruits.

"We were a Nike team, but we felt like we could make our own identity with Under Armour, especially since Alabama was Nike," Tuberville said.

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Texas Tech administrators also hoped to forge a unique identity when, in 2006, they decided to bid out a new football apparel contract with plans to expand department-wide once other teams' apparel deals expired. At the time, the Red Raider football team wore Nike, men's basketball wore Adidas, and Olympic sports signed individual contracts with whichever companies would work within their often constrictive budgets.

Former athletic director Gerald Myers wanted a single apparel contract to ensure sports like soccer, softball and tennis received the same treatment as football, and to help create greater a sense of unity within the department.

He was disappointed, however, when the bids came back.

"Nike put in a bid," Myers said, "but we could tell they weren't too interested in whether they had Texas Tech or not. Adidas was the same way; we thought we were going to get a great proposal from Adidas but we were disappointed in it."

So the bids went out again, and this time Under Armour joined the candidate list. Myers says he was shocked by its efforts to win the Red Raiders' account. Plank made several personal calls regarding the brand, and asked Tuberville to meet with Myers in Dallas and encourage him to pick the young company.

Less than a decade after its launch, Under Armour saw a contract with Texas Tech as an opportunity for growth.

"We felt like it was a chance to not only brand the Texas Tech campus, but also Lubbock as a community, because the community of Lubbock is so wrapped around the university," Jones said. "They really feed off each other, have a great relationship, and we felt if we could get a partnership with Texas Tech we could be a partner in its success."

Tech football announced a deal with Under Armour that spring, and in 2009 the entire department began using Under Armour uniforms, practice gear and shoes. The only exceptions are a few items - like track spikes - that Under Armour does not currently produce.

When recruits visit Tech's campus, Crowell said, showing off the Under Armour gear is a major part of every coach's pitch.

"When a recruit sits here," said Tuberville, now at Tech, "I tell him, 'When you come here, everything we do is Under Armour. We wear Under Armour shoes, socks, hats.'

Under Armour is one of the fastest-growing sports apparel companies doing business. Its net revenues grew 24 percent in 2010, with apparel net revenues increasing 31 percent. Its earnings per share - Under Armour became publicly traded in 2005 - increased 46 percent last year.

"Only in America could this happen," Tuberville said. "This guy goes from giving it away out of the back of his car, to 15 years later he's got a company that covers an entire block in Baltimore and is sold all over the world."

Under Armour's logo dominates golf courses, recreational sports fields and playgrounds across Lubbock. It is particularly popular among men and kids; at local sporting goods retailer Cardinal Sports, Under Armour makes up 75 percent of those demographics' apparel sales.

General manager Brad Wyatt says Under Armour sells better at Cardinal's Lubbock stores than one in Plano, where Nike is more popular.

Noting the trend, Cardinals designed its newest store around Under Armour, dedicating six thousand square feet to the brand. Nike, by comparison, gets less than 2,500 square feet.

Wyatt said Texas Tech's use of Under Armour adds appeal, but the quality brings repeat customers.

"You can market a product that's not very good and sell a whole lot for a minute, but it's going to fizzle out," Wyatt said. "Their growth numbers keep getting better and better. Absolutely, it's quality."

Tuberville estimates that for every kid who shows up at his summer football camps wearing a Nike product, there's now another wearing Under Armour.

That's significant because Nike earned a little more than 19 billion dollars in 2010, while Under Armour earned a little more than one billion. Nike still dominates the global market, but kids increasingly embrace Under Armour.

"We're all about the athletes, helping make the athlete better," Jones said. "Our company was born at the high school and college level. We want to stay true to that. It gives us a great platform."

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Tuberville remembers one of his first conversations with Kevin Plank after being named football coach at Texas Tech.

"We've got to do something at Tech, because our motto is that we're cotton's worst enemy," Plank told him. "That doesn't go over very well in Lubbock."

Low grumblings about Tech's allegiance to a vocally anti-cotton company began as soon as the school signed its contract. After all, Lubbock lies in the heart of cotton country. Plains Cotton Growers estimates that each cotton crop contributes between 3.5 and five billion dollars to the local economy. Cotton producers buy tickets to Tech games, pay their kids' Tech tuition and donate to Tech's athletic and academic programs.

Neither Tech nor Under Armour wanted to isolate those fans.

"It's something that was always a point of discussion in Lubbock because of the cotton industry out there," Jones said, "and quite frankly, it was a little bit of a sore subject sometimes."

Under Armour's newest product line, however, embraces cotton. On January 27 it announced "Charged Cotton," apparel made of natural fibers but treated in a way that repels moisture much like Under Armour's signature synthetic products.

The company worked with Cotton, Inc. - the group behind the "fabric of our lives" campaign - to develop the technology it needed.

"It will allow cotton to get more into that high-performance athletic market that the man-made fibers have been dominant in with Under Armour and the Nike dri-fit stuff," said Shawn Wade, director of policy analysis and research for Plains Cotton Growers. "It gives cotton a place at that table, and I think people will appreciate the product."

To promote the new line, Under Armour and Tech are planning a "Cotton Game" this fall, with football coaches wearing head-to-toe Charged Cotton and local cotton farmers participating in game-time events, like the coin toss.

"I would say that Under Armour's probably not been the most favorite guy on the block from a cotton farmer's perspective," Wade said, "but they've joined the ranks."

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Five years after the first contract, Myers calls Tech's deal with Under Armour "one of the best things we ever did." He says it provided a consistently high quality of apparel and footwear across the athletic department. It established a common thread tying together Tech's teams, and created an extremely strong association with one of the trendiest brands in the marketplace.

"Financially it's been good, and just morale-wise with the products we have that our athletes get for their uniforms, for their practice gear, for all the needs they have, I think they feel good about Under Armour," Myers said.

It seems Under Armour feels good about Tech, too. Plank travels to Lubbock every year, sometimes twice, to attend a football game and meet with administrators. Tech teams are constantly testing Under Armour's latest products - men's basketball wore Under Armour shoes for nearly two seasons before they were sold to the public - and the athletes', coaches' and equipment staff's feedback has been used to make products more comfortable and durable.

In return, Tech athletes get a more effective product. For example, Tuberville said this year's football uniforms will look like last year's, but will be made differently so they are tighter and harder for opponents to grab, per athletes' request.

While he couldn't provide exact numbers, Jones said it's clear Tech has led to a jump in Under Armour sales among Tech fans.

"There's no question," he said. "Once we go in and become the sideline provider, there's definitely an increase in retail."

It appears Under Armour's popularity will continue to grow. LISD athletic director Mark Ball said he's gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback from junior high and high school students since announcing Lubbock school athletic teams will begin wearing Under Armour gear as part of a recent contract bid.

"We had to think about what would our kids like? What would help our programs?" Ball said. "Every kid likes Under Armour.

"Obviously with the quality of material you get with Under Armour and the discount we got, to me it makes sense. When you're right next door to Tech, everybody thinks about Under Armour."

What's in it for Under Armour?

Aside from brand exposure, the contract with Texas Tech guarantees Under Armour:

■ Recognition as Tech's official outfitter in team posters, calendars and newsletters and on TexasTech.com

■ Advertising during home games, including two 30-second video board spots per game, public address announcements and in-stadium signage

■ A full-page color advertisement in each game program and a black and white ad in each media guide.

■ Use of game photography and video footage

■ Twenty club or field-level tickets to home football games and 10 parking passes as well as 10 tickets to football road games and bowl games

■ Tickets and parking passes to all other Tech sports

■ Up to two appearances per year by each Texas Tech head coach on behalf of Under Armour

Everybody wins

Texas Tech's contract with Under Armour includes several performance-related bonuses UA would pay based on Tech teams' success:

Football

(Contract years No. 3 through 5)

■ $500,000 if Tech wins a national championship

■ $100,000 if Tech appears in a BCS bowl game

■ $25,000 if Tech appears in the Big XII Championship

■ $10,000 for any non-BCS bowl appearance

■ $10,000 if the head coach is named National Coach of the Year

(Also, Mike Leach was set to receive $100,000 of Under Armour stock if he had been Texas Tech's head coach on Aug. 1, 2011)

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Where is Pastor Hance? Glad to here that Tubster was the catalyst to bringing UnderArmour to Lubbock. The young company has been doing business with Tech for quite a while and the Tubster apparently has too.

I was not aware of this fact. Either there are young writers at the AJ or "The Tubster" coached several schools all at once. Is this revising history or is the Tubster the best thing to happen to Pastor Hance.

Plank made several personal calls regarding the brand, and asked Tuberville to meet with Myers in Dallas and encourage him to pick the young company. Less than a decade after its launch, Under Armour saw a contract with Texas Tech as an opportunity for growth

5yrs after first contract? Small shout out to MIKE LEACH. Myers is a tool, and I wish he would plant his butt on a law chair and fade away.

Sounds like nothing more than kickbacks to the staff for agreeing to use a particular product. In any other department there would be eithical questions, however in athletics it seems to be generally agreed that ethics are just another problem to find a way around.

Uhh.. Yes? Of course their are kickbacks, that is the entire reason for the contract.

UA gets exclusivity and free advertising from Tech athletics, Tech gets equipment and money. How is this different from any other business arrangement and how on earth is an Ethics issue? Please do tell.

This makes me so sad.
So thats why they changed the game uniforms...i thought there was concern that the black helmets were too intimidating.

Synthetic products are made by refining oil, oil refineries need water for their cooling systems and all of Texas is experiencing a drought. West Texas doesn't refine oil, we grow cotton. How have local cotton growers benefited from "Charged Cotton". Are they richer now?

so much for doing things 'local'

Ring some bells! Get your guns up! or charge the goal post or something.

A state employee gets paid for using a particular vendor for the program. That is not like any other business arrangement and most companies have a Code of Ethics or Standards of Conduct which prohibit an employee from accepting anything of value which might affect his performance of duties. TTU has the same guidelines in OP 10.11. Getting advertising for providing equipment is one thing; making payments to the person responsible for selecting the vendor is something else entirely. I don't know what kind of business you are in where that type of arrangement is acceptable.

I don't know where you got the idea that coaches are not employees of the state; they most certainly are and are listed on the TTU payroll as employees. Whether or not the AD actually "makes" the deal has nothing to do with it; the coach is getting a kickback from the vendor and that does not pass the smell test. I know that most if not all college coaches get the same deals, but that is just a failure of the system and is just knowingly making the whole show of ethical behavior in college sports a joke. The next thing will be that someone really believes that college athletes don't take steroids and the coaches don't know it. Please.

Jeez, Agallion where do you get your information, or do you make it up as you go along? The NCAA does random testing during the year, and random testing before bowl games. This tests only about 20% of the players at any given time, so there is no "regular" testing for steroids. No team or program does routine testing for all players during the year, and the off season is pretty much left alone so players can use drugs and get them out of their system by the time the playing season starts. A few players are actually caught, but nobody believes NCAA testing stops the use. I guess you also believe that professional sports and the Olympic Committee also effectively controls the use of steroids. Does the name Barry Bonds ring a bell?

This business of product endorsements and sportswear contracts is just symptomatic of a larger problem, the deification of sports and the almighty dollar. It’s as if sports and making money is the ultimate goal for many people. I’m afraid they will be sorely disappointed when it doesn’t give the satisfaction they’re seeking.

I feel sorry for them in that many cannot survive without some sort of sporting event going on 24/7. Sure, I enjoy a good sporting event from time to time. I watched with great interest and delight Rory McIlroy win the US Open yesterday. But it’s just a game! There is much more to life than games.